Geofencing of obvious geographic locations and events

ABSTRACT

A system for aggregating media is provided which includes a server equipped with a processor and memory and having an event database associated with it which contains a plurality of events, wherein each of the plurality of events has a temporal window and geofence associated with it; and a plurality of users, each having associated therewith a mobile technology platform equipped with a display and a memory which communicates with the server. The memory of each mobile technology platform has an instance of a software application is installed which monitors the current location of the user, prompts the user to check into events present in the event database when the user enters a geofence associated with an event within the temporal window associated with the event, associates, with one of the plurality of events, media which was captured by the user while the user was checked into the one of the plurality of events and within the temporal window and geofence associated with the one of the plurality of events, and uploads the captured media to the server.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 15/493,043(Gauglitz et al.), entitled GEOFENCING OF OBVIOUS GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONSAND EVENTS, which was filed on Apr. 20, 2017, and which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety; which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. Ser. No. 15/363,070 (Gauglitz et al.), entitled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR EVENT NETWORKING AND MEDIA SHARING,” which was filed on Nov.29, 2016, and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety;which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 13/833,991 (Gauglitz et al.),entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EVENT NETWORKING AND MEDIA SHARING,”which was filed on Mar. 15, 2013 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,544,379on Jan. 10, 2017, and which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety; which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.12/849,780 (Gauglitz), filed on Aug. 3, 2010, entitled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR EVENT NETWORKING, MEDIA SHARING, AND PRODUCT CREATION,” nowabandoned, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety;which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application 61/231,008,filed on Aug. 3, 2009, having the same title and inventor, and which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to photography and imaging,telecommunications, social media, and event networking in a variety offields including sports and other community events, personal events, andother occasions in which the sharing of information and media isdesirable. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the useof various communications protocols and platforms in order to distributeinformation through a network to enable users to interact andcommunicate with like-minded users, as well as to enable the creationand purchasing of items and customized products.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Social networking through the internet has exploded of late due to theinternets inherent ability to permit communication among users. Variousstandard protocols have allowed for information and resource exchangethrough email, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and the like, for manyyears, however, more recent advances in mobile technology now permitpeople to exchange information via their mobile phones and tablets thatheretofore could take place only while sitting at a desktop, laptop, ornotebook computer.

Web-based networking now exists in the form of such sites as MySpace®,Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter®, Pinterest®, Instagram®, and many others.In such networking sites, users generally join, provide such details ascontact information, and optionally include information related to avariety of interests. The sites maintain all information of all users incentral servers operably connected to databases, such that users canfind each other, establish links to each other, and establishcommunities of users.

Some social networking sites provide the ability to search for friends,i.e., other users which may already be known to a particular user, orother users who share some commonality in education, employment, orother fields of interest. Users may interact with such friends byposting information to each other's pages maintained on the site, byjoining in community interactions such as those provided by applicationson sites such as Facebook®. or through direct message services and emailclients such as those offered by both Facebook and Twitter.

Some online services offer forums for communication between communitiesof users or in a one to many broadcast format. These services includemessage boards, email lists, chat rooms, personal home pages, web logsor blogs and tweets. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,366,962 and6,363,427. These services provide a forum where profiles or messages areviewed by a specific individual, the general public, or the entiremembership of a specific defined group.

These types of forums allow visibility to multiple members of a group;however, they typically are not based on events or social networks, butrather on broader interests, such as a particular hobby or sport.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,629 discloses, among other things, a system designedto distribute, initiate and allow interaction and communication withinlike-minded communities of users.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,593 discloses a system designed to “match” usersusing their mobile phones, which may use location and other informationto determine such matching.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,202 discloses, among other things, a method andapparatus for users to search networks, both their own network and theirpeers' networks, all under the umbrella of what the inventors thereincall a “multiple level access” security system.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,308 discloses, among other things, a networkingsystem wherein descriptive data and relationship data are integrated andprocessed to reveal a series of social relationships connecting any twousers within a social network.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,233 discloses, among other things, a system whereinimages are uploaded to a central server, which system permits printingand delivery of such images.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0065741 discloses, amongother things, a system wherein images selected by a user may beuploaded, and cards with selected images may be distributed to selectedrecipients.

In the general field of sports, for example, there are many websites ofgeneral interest, such as news organizations, and there are thosededicated to the field, which provide a variety of information, such asscores, text descriptions, video clips, photos of games, etc. There arealso sites which provide users with games, such as fantasy football,hosted by the site and existing only in cyberspace. Information on localevents may be found on the websites for local municipalities, newsorganizations, sports leagues, etc.

Notwithstanding the myriad sites available for accessing information,none to date provide the ability for users to share media obtained at asporting event, in real time, such that all users participating in alive event, and those who only take interest at some later time, haveaccess to the combined media from all participants in a customizablemanner. The advent of mobile devices capable of reaching the internet,GPS, and audiovisual recording has made it possible to recordinformation at an event and have it be uploaded to a server inessentially real-time. The newest mobile devices, such as the iPhone®,Android®, and Blackberry®, are particularly suitable for the purposes ofthe present disclosure because they are capable of having applicationsinstalled which directly interface with the website servers contemplatedby the present disclosure.

No existing methods take advantage of this ability to provide allsimilarly situated users a shared, continuously updated community viewof an event. Nor do they provide the ability to create hard-copy recordsand images of such events including images originally captured by otherusers, obtainable merely by ordering same, whether during the event,immediately thereafter, or any time after the event has completed. Nordo they provide an ability to offer or suggest products or advertisingto these same users which is relevant and related to a particular event.The art is in need of such systems and event-based networking tools.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic cartoon of an embodiment of the present disclosureillustrating the network architecture and structure of the system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating general use of an embodimentof the system named PicPocket® including, among other things, eventcreation.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating general use of an embodimentof the system named PicPocket® including, among other things, imagecapture and upload to the system.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

It is an object of the present disclosure to overcome the drawbacks ofthe prior art. The systems and methodologies of the present disclosureprovide the ability not only to generate communities of users, but alsoto aggregate media (photos, video, audio, and the like) from suchcommunities of users, thus enabling the sharing and distribution of suchmedia to all the users thereof. Each user may choose to share all oronly a selection of media captured, while the aggregate for anyparticular event may be available to all users.

In a preferred embodiment of a system disclosed herein, each end user ofthe system generally creates and manages his or her own page, accessibleby logging into the system via the Internet, in which page the usercollects a variety of events selected from those generally available toall users, as well as those created by each individual user. Thus, inone aspect of the present disclosure, the system itself provides andupdates a database of events accessible to all users, such asprofessional sporting events, real estate listings from real estatecompanies, product offerings from image finishing companies, retailers,and other commercial retail companies. Advertising on each user's pagemay be customizably placed, and may be tailored to a user's selectedfields of interest as identified by such user's choices of events, priorviewing, purchasing habits, or other markers gained through applicationof predictive intelligence.

Some of the advantages of the systems and methodologies disclosed hereinmay be appreciated by considering the typical experience of a fanattending a big sporting event. Frequently, such a fan hopes to leavethe game with a beautiful image of his favorite player, or a key shot ofthe action. Unfortunately, it frequently happens that the fan leaveswith little more than a handful of shots, only a few of which may be“keepers”. Moreover, most or all of the images captured by the fan aretypically taken at roughly the same angle and distance from theobject(s) of interest. If fans could easily share all their images, thenumber of keepers available to a fan would increase, and the probabilityof capturing an action shot that the fan is looking for may rise aswell. In a preferred embodiment, the systems and methodologies disclosedherein promote the collection of a wide variety of images and othermedia from different angles and perspectives, and present users with theability to, for example, create photographic products that they wouldotherwise be unable to obtain anywhere else.

The present disclosure also allows the offering and creation of productstailored and customized for end users. In a preferred embodiment, thesystems and methodologies of the present disclosure begin with featurescommonly found in social networking applications, but provide the addedability to aggregate media captured by the entire community of users.These systems and methodologies may further facilitate the productionand purchase of customized products such as T-shirts, enlargements ofimages, and other items as further described below. These products maybe derived from the user's own images uploaded during the event, or theymay be derived from other users of the system.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for eventnetworking comprising a server having an event database of events, theevents having a time window and a GPS location or geofence. The systemhas a plurality of users with access to the event database, and thesystem aggregates media uploaded by the users at an event into an eventpage. The event is controllably accessible to users such that the imagesin an event page are viewable by all users having access thereto.

In another aspect, the system aggregates media based on parameters suchas, for example, the time window and the GPS location of the media. Themedia may be, for example, images, video, or audio content.

The time window may be specified with a start time and an end time, orwith a start time and duration, or with an end time and duration. TheGPS location is preferably defined by GPS coordinates and a geofence orproximity envelope around the GPS coordinates, such that the GPSlocation encompasses all GPS coordinates within the envelope. Theproximity envelope or geofence may be a circle with a radius having aspecified length, or may be irregular, being defined by the path throughtime of an event. Events may be entered into the event database by anoperator of the system, or they may be created by the users. The usersmay have the ability to customize their home pages, and these home pagesmay show the events to which the user is subscribed, or a subsetthereof. Additional content or events may populate users' pages asprovided by the system, such as targeted advertising or events suggestedby the system for each user.

In another aspect, a method for associating media with an event isprovided. The method comprises (a) providing software, instances ofwhich are installed on each of a plurality of mobile technologyplatforms, wherein each mobile technology platform is associated withone of a plurality of users, wherein each mobile technology platform isequipped with a display and is further equipped with a memory device inwhich an instance of said software is installed, and wherein saidsoftware (i) monitors the current location of the mobile technologyplatform, and (ii) captures media in response to at least one commandinput by a user, (b) creating a plurality of events, wherein each of theplurality of events has a geofence associated with it; (c) receiving,from the plurality of users, instances of captured media, wherein eachinstance of captured media was captured on a mobile technology platformassociated with one of the plurality of users, and wherein each instanceof captured media is accompanied by a request to associate the instanceof captured media with a designated event selected from the groupconsisting of the plurality of events; (d) for each instance of capturedmedia, ascertaining the attendance of the associated user at thedesignated event by comparing the time and the location of theassociated user with the temporal window and geofence associated withthe designated event; (e) associating the instance of captured mediawith the designated event only if the associated user is attending thedesignated event; (f) aggregating the captured media associated with atleast one of the plurality of events into a collection; and (g)providing access to the collection to the plurality of users.

In a further aspect, a method is provided for associating media with anevent. The method comprises (a) providing a software application,instances of which are installed on each of a plurality of mobiletechnology platforms, wherein each mobile technology platform isassociated with one of a plurality of users and is equipped with adisplay and a memory device; (b) receiving, from a first of theplurality of users, a request to create an event, wherein the requestspecifies a geofence and a temporal window to be associated with theevent; (c) in response to the request to create an event received fromthe first of the plurality of users, creating the event; (d) receiving,from a second of the plurality of users, a request to associate aninstance of captured media with the created event, wherein the at leastone request to associate captured media is generated by the instance ofthe software application installed on the mobile technology platformassociated with the second of the plurality of users in response toinput received from the second of the plurality of users, wherein thecaptured media is captured with the mobile technology platformassociated with the second of the plurality of users, and wherein thecaptured media is selected from the group consisting of videos andimages; and (e) in response to the request received from the second ofthe plurality of users to associate the instance of captured media withthe created event, (i) ascertaining the associated user's attendance atthe created event by comparing the associated time and location at whichthe instance of captured media was captured with the temporal window andgeofence associated with the created event, and (ii) associating theinstance of captured media with the created event if, and only if, theinstance of captured media was captured while the associated user wasattending the created event.

In still another aspect, a method for associating media with an event isprovided. The method comprises (a) providing software, instances ofwhich are installed on each of a plurality of mobile technologyplatforms, wherein each mobile technology platform is associated withone of a plurality of users, wherein each mobile technology platform isequipped with a display and is further equipped with a memory device inwhich an instance of said software is installed, and wherein saidsoftware (i) monitors the current location of the mobile technologyplatform, and (ii) captures media in response to at least one commandinput by a user, (b) creating an event database containing a pluralityof events, wherein each of the plurality of events has a temporal windowand geofence associated with it; (c) receiving, from the one of saidplurality of users, a request to modify an instance of media captured onthe mobile technology platform associated with the one of said pluralityof users; (d) ascertaining whether one of said plurality of users isattending one of said plurality of events by (i) comparing the locationof the mobile technology platform associated with the one of saidplurality of users with the geofence associated with the one of theplurality of events and (ii) comparing the current time with thetemporal window associated with the one of the plurality of events; and(e) if the one of said plurality of users is attending the event, then(i) creating a modified version of the instance of media, and (ii)providing the one of said plurality of users with the modified versionof the instance of media.

In yet another aspect, a method is provided for associating media withan event, comprising (a) providing software, instances of which areinstalled on each of a plurality of mobile technology platforms, whereineach mobile technology platform is associated with one of a plurality ofusers, wherein each mobile technology platform is equipped with adisplay and is further equipped with a memory device in which aninstance of said software is installed, wherein said software (i)monitors the current location of the mobile technology platform, and(ii) captures media in response to at least one command input by a user,and wherein said plurality of mobile technology platforms includes afirst mobile technology platform; (b) defining a geofence; (c) defininga temporal window; (d) creating a media template; (e) detecting thepresence, within said geofence and during said temporal window, of saidfirst mobile technology platform; (f) in response to the detection ofthe presence of said first mobile technology platform within saidgeofence and during said temporal window, displaying the media templateon the display of said first mobile technology platform; (g) in responseto the selection, by a user of said first mobile technology platform, ofthe template and of an instance of media captured by said first mobiletechnology platform, applying the template to the instance of capturedmedia, thereby creating a modified version of the captured media; and(h) displaying the modified version of the captured media on the displayof the first mobile technology platform.

In another aspect, a method is provided for capturing media at a venue.The method comprises (a) providing software, instances of which areinstalled on each of a plurality of mobile technology platforms, whereineach mobile technology platform is associated with one of a plurality ofusers, wherein each mobile technology platform is equipped with adisplay and is further equipped with a memory device in which aninstance of said software is installed, and wherein said softwaremonitors the current location of the mobile technology platform; (b)providing at least one venue camera which is adapted to capture media ofa user at the venue; (c) receiving a request from a first of theplurality of users, via the software, to have media of the first usercaptured by the at least one venue camera; (d) obtaining the firstuser's location from the instance of software installed on the mobiletechnology platform associated with the first user; (e) directing the atleast one venue camera to the first user's location; and (f) capturingmedia of the first user.

In a further aspect, a method is provided for aggregating dataassociated with an event. The method comprises (a) providing software,instances of which are installed on each of a plurality of mobiletechnology platforms, wherein each mobile technology platform isassociated with one of a plurality of users, wherein each mobiletechnology platform is equipped with a display and is further equippedwith a memory device in which an instance of said software is installed,and wherein said software (a) monitors the current location of themobile technology platform, and (b) captures data in response to atleast one command input by a user, (b) creating a plurality of events,wherein each of the plurality of events has a geofence associated withit; (c) receiving, from the plurality of users, instances of captureddata, wherein each instance of captured data was captured on a mobiletechnology platform associated with one of the plurality of users; (d)for each instance of captured data, ascertaining the attendance of theassociated user at the designated event, at the time that the data wascaptured, by comparing the time and the location of the associated userwith the temporal window and geofence associated with the designatedevent; (e) associating the instance of captured data with the designatedevent only if it is ascertained that the associated user was inattendance at the designated event at the time that the data wascaptured; (f) aggregating the captured data associated with at least oneof the plurality of events into a collection; and (g) providing accessto the collection to the plurality of users.

In another aspect, a method is provided for associating media with anevent. The method comprises (a) providing software, instances of whichare installed on each of a plurality of mobile devices, wherein eachmobile device is associated with one of a plurality of users, whereineach mobile device is equipped with a memory device in which an instanceof said software is installed, and wherein said software (i) monitorsthe current location of the mobile device and (ii) captures media inresponse to at least one command input by a user, (b) creating aplurality of events, wherein each of the plurality of events has ageofence associated with it (c) receiving, from the plurality of users,instances of captured media, wherein each instance of captured media wascaptured on a mobile device associated with one of the plurality ofusers, and wherein each instance of captured media is accompanied by arequest to associate the instance of captured media with a designatedevent selected from the group consisting of the plurality of events; (d)for each instance of captured media, ascertaining the attendance of theassociated user at the designated event by comparing the time and thelocation of the associated user with the temporal window and geofenceassociated with the designated event; (e) associating the instance ofcaptured media with the designated event only if it is ascertained thatthe associated user was in attendance at the designated event; (f)aggregating the captured media associated with at least one of theplurality of events into a collection; and (g) providing access to thecollection to the plurality of users.

These and other objects are achieved through the present disclosure asexemplified and further described in the Detailed Description of theInvention below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Introduction

The routine features of the systems and methodologies described hereinare known to those of skill in the art and are therefore not shown anddescribed. It will, of course, be appreciated that, in the developmentof any actual implementations of such systems and methodologies,numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order toachieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance withapplication- and business-related constraints, and that these specificgoals will vary from one implementation to another and from onedeveloper to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such adevelopment effort might be complex and time-consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure.

Definitions

The term “social network”, as used herein, refers to an aggregation ofindividual social relationships, out to any number of degrees ofseparation.

The term “user”, as used herein, refers to an individual who hasregistered in the system.

The term “system”, as used herein, refers to a computer system thatserves informational content over a network using the standard protocolsof the World Wide Web. As used herein, the term is generally intended toencompass both (i) the hardware/software server components that servethe informational content over the network, and (ii) the “back end”hardware/software components, including any non-standard or specializedcomponents, that interact with the server components to perform servicesfor website users.

The term “media”, as used herein, refers to images, video, audio, andcombinations thereof.

The term “mobile technology platform”, as used herein, refers to acomputational device which is designed to be carried with or on aperson, which can run a mobile software application of the typedescribed herein, which has the ability to capture media, and which iscapable of communicating over a network. The term may also encompassmultiple components or devices which, in the aggregate, perform as amobile technology platform. Examples of mobile technology platformsinclude smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone® and Samsung's Android®devices, and wearable computational devices having the foregoingcapabilities (such as, for example, camera-watches, head-mountedcameras, and other wearable devices which operate, by themselves or incombination with additional devices, to provide these capabilities).

Overview

Unlike other Internet and web-based social networking systems, theadvantages of the present disclosure are found in its ability not onlyto generate communities of users, but to aggregate images and othermedia, and information provided by a plurality of users in thecommunity, such that each user has access to a much larger collection ofsuch media and information than that captured individually by eachparticular user. The users at an event may already be connected to eachother, or may simply be co-participants at the event.

The system is also optionally adaptable to offer products comprisingprofessionally enhanced images or media, tailored and customized for theend users and communities. Just as with known social networking systems,users may “meet” and interact via the website produced by the system.Thus, email, chat, bulletin boards, blogs, Sharing, Favoriting, Likes,Rating, Commenting and other typical forms of social networking arecontemplated. The system may use information gathered about users anduser behavior to create a recommendation engine that will suggestcontent and products that might be of particular interest to any givenuser. For example, if it is recognized that, in general, users who likephotos of hikers also like photos of rock climbers, the system mayinform a user who is viewing an event about hiking that the user mightalso like an event about rock climbing, and provide a link to such anevent.

Another approach to making intelligent recommendations is to identifyusers who have similar viewing and voting patterns and makerecommendations based on what other similarly situated users have liked.For example, if a user A and user B have both liked many of the sameevents, but user B has liked some events that user A has not voted on,the system might recommend some of user Bs liked events to user A.

The system may use this same recommendation engine to help determinewhich products and advertisements appear on a particular user's orevent's page. For example, if user A has liked several events near orabout the Eiffel Tower, the system might recommend to user A a bookabout France or an advertisement for a Paris hotel even though the useris currently viewing an event that has nothing to do with France.

The system may also track in real time which products users are clickingon and use this data to help determine which products are beingrecommended for purchase. For example, if product X is suddenly gettinga burst in its click through rate, the system will detect this increaseand adjust the product recommendation algorithm so product X isdisplayed more often.

The present disclosure also adds the ability of purchasing products suchas T-shirts, enlargements of images, and other items as furtherdescribed below. Such products include the typical items one couldpurchase at a sporting event, but more importantly the productsavailable to users of the system are products employing the collectivecommunity of users' images. Thus, the present disclosure allows for theproduction of customized products with enhanced images to be produced,sold, and delivered to users in a manner heretofore unavailable.

The System Hardware

In accordance with the present disclosure, the hardware and softwarecomponents, process steps, and/or data structures may be implementedusing various types of operating systems, computing platforms, computerprograms, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less generalpurpose nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or thelike, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe inventive concepts disclosed herein. The present disclosure isgenerally described in relation to distribution of information via anetwork connection. For example, the back-end database may be housed ata remote location on any suitable computer hardware, with operable linksto the front-end computer hardware, which ultimately serves informationto, and collects information from, end users of the system of thepresent disclosure. Such hardware is now well known, and any suitablesystem may be employed, such as the hardware described in U.S. Pat. No.7,069,308, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated byreference in its entirety. Furthermore, parts of the system are also incommunication with other service providers, over the internet, suchthat, for example, digital image files may be sent to such serviceproviders for output on hardcopy, such as prints.

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, illustrating embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the system architecture utilizes Linux or other operatingsystems running on Intel Xeon or similar processors. The architectureemploys multiple node web application clusters for high availability andscalability. The images captured and uploaded by the users are stored ina high speed file store or network store or cloud data store for easystorage and retrieval operations. The architecture also employs highavailability proxy or load balancer for fail over and fault tolerancecapabilities. The content delivery network may cache previouslydelivered content for faster access by users. User information events,photos, preferences, and other elements of the system are typicallystored in an RDBMS (relational database management system). The mobileapp employed by the system also may use image enhancement, socialnetwork integration (e.g., with Facebook and others) and taxonomymanagement to provide a rich user experience.

Image Capture Devices

The systems and methodologies disclosed herein may be practiced with avariety of suitable devices, such as Apple's iPhone®, RIM's Blackberry®,Android® phones, and other so-called “smart” phones. However, any mobiledevice capable of capturing images could be used. For example, it iscontemplated that other devices include laptop computers with built incameras, “netbook” computers with cameras, simple camera phones,tablets, digital cameras, digital SLR cameras, etc. Film/slide camerasmay also be included as devices useful for the system, provided thatusers upload digitized versions of such images following filmprocessing.

In another embodiment, a device for use in the system may be designedspecifically for use in the system, such that it is capable of at leastimage capture, but optionally also capable of interfacing with thesystem via a network, whether using a traditional browser or a customapplication or app specifically designed for the purpose of implementingthe event networking system of the present disclosure.

Users may view events on their computers, mobile devices, and even ontelevisions. Output to television is possible by direct connection orwireless connection from a computer, but also such devices and systemssuch as TiVo®, Roku®, AppleTV® and the like may be adapted with customchannels capable of interfacing with the system of the presentdisclosure such that users may view events directly on theirtelevisions.

Registration and Events

In outline, the system of the present disclosure operates as follows.Users register with the system via a website, or as prompted uponlaunching an application on their mobile device, at which they providebasic information including name and address, billing information, andthe like. Also at the time of registration, or any time thereafter,users may identify and select classes of events and/or particular eventsand/or particular users they would like to follow. Such identificationcan be performed through searchable lists of events provided by thesystem based on correlation with the user's geographic location asspecified by the user. Users may register at home from the desktop, fromwhich they may provide this location and selection information directlyon a registration page. Alternatively, they may supply certaininformation, such as GPS information, via the use's mobile interfacingapplication, such as an application residing on an iPhone® or Android®device. Selection of event classes and particular events may occur atany time post-registration as well. Users may also select events thatare not already presented in the database through an “add-event” stylepage accessed from the website or the application on the device.

Events include professional and other major sports team games, such asthose of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, theNational Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, the UnitedStates Tennis Association, and others, both domestic and foreign.Additionally, a variety of other national league sports teams, minorleague sports teams, college sports teams, and games of local teams suchas intramural and intermural teams, and little league teams are amenableto the system. In one embodiment, the event is a concert, show, or otherpublic performance. More and more municipalities have cameras installedwhich would be capable for use in the system. Thus, other municipal andlocal events, such as parades, town fairs, and the like may beconsidered events. Additional other events may also be included in thesystems and methodologies disclosed herein, including unscheduledevents, such as on-scene images of a local fire. Essentially any eventfor which images can be captured can be shared using the system of thepresent disclosure, because images thereof will be viewable, andpurchasable, by registered users or organizations.

Once an event or class of events is selected, the user's page on thesite (whether viewed directly over the internet in a browser or in amobile application interface) will update with information aboutupcoming events. For a fan of a particular team, for example, upcominggames will be displayed on the user's page, as well as relatedinformation from the sport, with access to other teams, scores, etc.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the system provides aglobal list of events presented from a database collected by operatorsof the system. For example, all major sporting events from professionalsports may be added to a user's page. The system collects images fromall users uploading images from each event, such that any user that haschosen that event may view all the images collected for that event byall user's attending that event. Each attendee may choose to have allimages uploaded, or may specify particular images to be uploaded.

The system may implement a checking operation by which all imagesuploaded for an event are checked to ensure that the GPS coordinates(and time and date) for the image are within the area in which the eventis taking place. This checking operation prevents images that were notactually taken at the event from appearing in the event's page. In thecase of digital SLR images that are captured without any GPS meta data,the system may use a method whereby a user establishes their bona fidesby checking-in to the event which then could be deemed to satisfy therequirements for a photo being considered for inclusion within anevent's event page.

In addition to sporting events, the events of governmental entities suchas states, counties, and municipalities may be provided globally by thesystem. For example, state fairs, county fund-raising events, and atown's music festival are all events which may be available to users ofthe system. Indeed, any event generally known to the public may be addedby the operators of the system, enabling users to “attend” the event byadding it to their pages; those that attend may upload images to theaggregated image collection for that event, while those who were unableto attend will also be able to view images from the event by simplyadding it to their page.

Each user may also create personal customized events. For example, auser having a birthday party for a child may create an event for theparty, and notify attendees that are also users of the system that theevent is available. Attendees who at the time of the party are not usersof the system would have the ability to download the app from the AppleiTunes or Google Play stores (or other sources of apps) and enter apasscode which grants them access to the event should it be restricted.All images taken at such an event are then aggregated as describedherein, and all attendees may then view all the images of the event. Theuser creating the event is provided with tools to control sharing andaccess by other user's to such “owned” events.

GPS may also be coupled with date and time information to be used toautomatically collect images for an event even when users have notspecifically directed images to a previously defined event. For example,all images uploaded to the system which fall within a specified radiusof an unknown event may be classified and collected as related to anevent taking place at such location, the definition of the event beingprovided once details are known about the event. For example, a fire, ora traffic accident, may generate uploads of images within a discreteradius and within a discrete period of time. The system may be providedwith an algorithm that recognizes such spontaneous concentrations ofimages, and operators of the system may be alerted to suchconcentrations, such that the event may be classified and made availableto users of the system. Conversely, after an event is known to haveoccurred at a certain location on a certain date and time, the system isalso be provided with an algorithm that actively searches for imagecontent with particular metadata indicating coincidence with the event.

In an additional embodiment, GPS allows for the creation of persistentyet dynamically updating events. For example, all images taken in aparticular neighborhood may be aggregated as an event entitled with thename of such neighborhood. Residents and visitors, and those consideringmoving to the neighborhood, may have interest in such “events” and maychoose to browse or retain such events on their pages. Each user's pagemay be provided with a map, or a link to a map, in which the user maysimply select a geographic location and specify a radius to see allevents taking place or that have taken place in such area, includingsuch persistent neighborhood events. It will be appreciated that thismay be of particular interest to a real estate application where a homepurchase decision is driven as much by the community and neighborhoodone is buying into as it is the home or property itself.

Images may also appear in more than one event. For example, an imageappearing in a neighborhood event may also have been taken at the timeof a sporting event, in which case it may appear in both events, and maybe linkable to both events.

Location based events have been described using a radius within whichall images uploaded are considered to be part of a discrete event.However, the ability to customize a geographic location usingintelligent boundary drawing, rather than a simple center and radiusaround such center, is also envisaged to be part of the presentdisclosure. Thus, users may draw freeform geographic boundaries on a mapin order to define regions of interest as they browse events. This isparticularly useful when the region under examination is not acircle—for example, a neighborhood may be largely rectangular or oddlyshaped. Such ability to construct boundaries allows users to customizeareas of interest. This is particularly useful when the event itself hasirregularly shaped boundaries, for example, the New York City Marathon,and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Events need not be added to a user's page permanently-users may browseevents by searching using a search engine embedded in the system,thereby enabling viewing of events on an ad hoc basis rather thanincluding the event on the user's page itself Those events of interest,however, may be added to the user's page at any time.

Implementation of tailored directed advertising is suitable for use inthe systems and methodologies disclosed herein. For example, a userconsidering moving to a neighborhood might begin on the system byselecting the location on a map, setting a radius for the neighborhood,and viewing the aggregated images for that neighborhood. But on thatneighborhood event page a real estate company having listings for homesin the neighborhood may have an advertisement that appears on such apage, offering the user lists of homes as well as images of each home.

In one embodiment, for example, a real-estate company with access toinformation relating to properties for sale or lease, may also createcustomizable dashboard views which load homes and properties of interestby any number of customizable and potentially pre-set groupings such as‘neighborhood’, ‘price range’ or ‘distance from’ selected points ofinterest such as schools, parks, hospitals, restaurants or shoppingdistricts.

In another embodiment, advertising for products may also appear in thepages of events themselves. Thus, on an event page for an NFL footballgame, among the images taken by users, professional photographers, andthe stadium operators, there may be similarly sized images which link topurchase pages for products such as hats, shirts, photos and the likefor the teams playing in that event or any other products which aresomewhat related to the category of event itself (i.e. a football, lawnchairs, coolers, etc.).

In another embodiment, the system is capable of creating “landmark”events. For example, a landmark such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris,France may be provided as an event which shows images taken within adesirable distance of the landmark regardless of the time at which theimage was captured. Users can use an iPad, for example, to create a“photo frame” that updates every time a new photo comes in. Use a user'sphoto and event votes to deliver targeted ads. (e.g., where a user hasliked several photos of the Eiffel Tower, show them an ad for a bookabout Paris, or a poster, or a trip to France).

Landmark based photo aggregation would allow users to createpersonalized “channels” that would display a constantly updating streamof photos of a specific landmark. For example a user who likes photos ofthe Brooklyn Bridge could create a “Brooklyn Bridge” channel and use atablet device such as an iPad or their computer to create a digitalphoto frame which would show them an ever-changing view of a theirfavorite landmark. The user could adjust settings on their “channel” toonly show Brooklyn Bridge photos taken by friends, or only those takenwithin 500 feet of the bridge, or only those taken at night, or anycombination of a number of other configurable options. Users will havethe ability to share their personalized “channels” with other users.

For landmark events, then, the system of the present disclosure enablesformatting of such content such that its delivery to a wireless pictureframe, big screen display/television, smart phone or tablet could serveas a means or form of live entertainment. Which events or landmarks anindividual chooses for such service could drive all manners of targetedadvertising.

Events entered in the database are provided with a set of parameters,including, for example:

event . . . id Identifies the event uniquely. user . . . id Identifiesthe user who created the event. session . . . id User session identifierfor which the event is created. name Name of the event. DescriptionDescription of the event. Cover Cover photo identifier of the event.meta . . . lat Latitude of the event center. meta . . . long Longitudeof the event center. radius Radius of the event for associating photosto the event in miles. start . . . dt Start date of the event. end . . .dt End date of the event. event . . . access . . . type Identifieswhether the event is public or private. create . . . dt The databaserecord created date. update . . . dt The database record updated date.event . . . status . . . code status of event (completed, drafted,active, etc.). permission event photo access permission for others.

Additional parameters may be added to events. For example, for eventswith irregular GPS boundaries for which a simple radius around GPScoordinates is not appropriate, a parameter can be added which specifiesthe nature of the route of the event and an associated width aroundwhich images should be considered part of the event. Those of skill inthe art will appreciate that other parameters may be associated withevents.

Embodiments of the present disclosure span a wide variety of endeavors,covering many aspects of modern day life. Images captured at any and allevents are potentially available to all users of the system, tailoredand customized to the users' preferences.

Image Collection

When a user attends an event, the user may take images with her phone'scamera, and upload the images to the system. Many mobile phones todayinclude location information in tags of digital images, and thisinformation allows the system to not only verify the origin location ofthe image, but also permits correlation of other users' images uploadedfrom the same event. Indeed, with improving GPS accuracy, the locationof the uploading user may be identified to a specific seat when comparedwith a map of the stadium or arena in which the game is being played.The system of the present disclosure contemplates not only a web-basedinteraction with the network system, accessible via browsers on desktopand mobile devices, but also custom applications designed for use oncomputers and on mobile devices, the latter commonly known as “apps”.Such custom applications interface with the camera on the device as wellas the back end system, and may be designed to provide featuresunavailable to a web-based browser.

The particular location of events may provide additional opportunitiesfor image collection, as stadiums and arenas may be equipped withcameras capable of being pointed at desired locations throughout theevent. For example, the system of the present disclosure contemplatescontracting with such venues to provide access by the system to suchcameras (or installing them for the venue for use by the system of thepresent disclosure), such that images of users may be obtained bypointing the cameras to the users' known seat location, as provided bytheir GPS information. Alternatively, seat information may be providedby the user directly via their device. If necessary to help pinpoint thelocation of the user, maps of venues may be stored as a database in thesystem, which thereby will be able to direct cameras of venues to thecorrect location to collect images of the users, and upload them to thesystem.

The venue cameras used for the purposes described herein need not bestationary cameras. For example, the venue cameras may include airbornecameras, such as those mounted on drones or blimps. Systems andmethodologies for using drones for this purpose are described, forexample, in commonly assigned WO2016100601 (Gauglitz), which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Another source of images or media includes professional photographers,who may be contracted for their services or may be freelance. In eitherevent, such photographers may, for example, take images of the event andupload them to the system. Additionally, such photographers may beprovided with location information for registered users, in which casethey may take images of such users, and upload them to the system. Theseimages, which may be tagged with location information, may also besupplied by the photographer with information regarding particularusers' locations which were photographed, such that the images will beavailable be available to each user. Different levels of privacy andsecurity have been contemplated to limit the sharing of such photos withonly those individuals who pay for those services.

The system then is enabled to allow registered users to have access toeach other's images, thereby providing each user with a variety ofangles on the action. Video (and audio) media is also contemplated asbeing included for use in the system. When a game concludes, the userhas the ability to view her own images and/or listen to his audio files,or those of other users who attended the game and uploaded media to thesystem. Additionally, users may be presented with images taken by thevenue's own cameras, or by professional photographers present at theevent. Further, as discussed more fully below, because the system is incommunication with other service providers, the user may choose topurchase digitally optimized and/or enhanced versions of any of thoseimages by indicating such desire to purchase on the mobile application'sinterface.

Uploading to the system may be performed in any way capable oftransferring images from a device to the system. For example, mobilephones ordinarily provide network connections via HSDPA, GSM, GPRS,EDGE, EVDO, CDMA, OFDMA and the like. Any of these protocols is suitablefor transfer of images, and are thus useful transfer mechanisms.Additionally, Wi-Fi is available on many devices, including many mobilephones, and generally provides a faster transfer mechanism for uploadingimages. Images may also be transferred after an event, for example, whena user transfers images from an image capture device to a computer whichthen employs its ordinary internet connection (Wi-Fi, ethernet, etc.) totransfer images to the system.

Inclusion of images captured with a DSLR (digital SLR) camera or othersource hardware that does not have GPS capabilities may also be enabledby the system. A variety of methods are suitable to verify theauthenticity of such images. For example, a user may launch the system'sapp on a smartphone while at an event. The app may be provided with ameans to have a user register as present at that event, for example, byproviding a button to generally register for the event or even toregister for the specific purpose of uploading from a non-GPS enableddevice. Activating such a means for registration informs the system toexpect that user will have images to upload from their account to thesame event, which have not been GPS verified. When verifyingauthenticity for system-wide events, a user must still have been presentat the event and “checked in” or “registered” in order to be permittedto upload photos and then subsequently link them to said public event.The photos may be flagged as not being GPS verified/authenticated;however, until someone from the community flags them as not belonging,they will be considered every bit as bonafide as an image uploaded withproperly GPS stamped .exif data. The system has the ability to allowthose who wish to see only verified images to filter those that are notfully verified from view.

The system of the present disclosure also permits the use of informationabout the direction from which images were captured. In a mapping app(such as GoogleMaps or others) view, the use of vectors to show to usersnot only where the photo was taken, but in what direction the camera wasfacing when the photo was captured could be provided. Such informationis also useful for photo-stitching, as well as the ability to identifyevents within events (for example, a fistfight breaking out in thestadium stands.) Thus, the system enables aggregation of images thatwere taken from a particular location (e.g., section 102, row F, seat21) but also photos that were taken from anywhere in the portion of astadium facing left field, or the pitcher's mound, or the goal posts, orthe cheerleaders section, etc.

On the same mapping view, in another embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a user drags a positional marker to assist sorting photos byproximity. When the marker is at a particular position, only photoscaptured within a specifiable distance of the marker are shown orhighlighted, with additional images being further sorted by distancefrom the marker.

In another embodiment, the system may include a car mounted camera thatcaptures images of the road and the driver at a defined interval, anduploads them to the server. If a car had this system installed and anaccident were to occur, photos taken just prior to the accident mayprove valuable in determining the cause and nature of the accident. Hadthose same photos been stored only on the device itself, they may havebeen destroyed in the accident. Additionally, if such a system-equippedcar were ever stolen, photos of the thief and the surrounding area couldaid in the recovery of the car as well as in the prosecution of thecrime. Had the photos been stored only on the device, as opposed tosafely on the server, these photos would most likely be destroyed beforethe car was ever recovered.

Car manufacturers have integrated multiple cameras in and aroundautomobiles, from rear-facing cameras which aid in parallel-parking toside-view mirrors to minimize blind-spots. As more and moreoutward-facing cameras are integrated throughout the body, significantopportunities exist to photo-stitch images at will, at pre-definedmoments or when other sensors communicate to the collective group ofcameras that there is an interest or need to do so. Such photos couldautomatically be uploaded to one's insurance carrier for purposes ofpreserving an accident scene. The opportunity further exists to buffersaid images in memory such that some number of images frames leading upto, for the duration of, and seconds thereafter, are captured andautomatically uploaded to the network for preservation and archivalpurposes.

In another embodiment, the system may be provided with a Breaking Newsfeature. Rather than being destined for a regular event, the system appdeployed on the capture hardware (e.g., a smartphone) is capable ofmarking an image to be uploaded as “urgent”. The system may then flagsuch events to human operators who will decide whether their urgencymeets requirements to be considered a breaking news event. Additionally,truly newsworthy images and video clips may be listed on a photoexchange where news organizations (such as AP, Reuters, UPI, Fox Newsand CNN) may be provided access to the media.

As an example of the breaking news feature, two users are sittingoutside at a cafe across from the Federal Reserve when a van pulls upand several armed, masked men exit. Both users launch their system app.User #1 proceeds to take X number of photos of the men running from thescene while User #2 takes a fifteen second video of the car making itsgetaway. A button within the app allows each of the users to designatetheir particular content as “BREAKING NEWS” before uploading same. Thiscontent is evaluated by human operators and determined to be fit for abreaking news event and/or directed to the media exchange accessible tonews gathering organizations. The system may also provide a mechanismallowing the content creator to participate in revenue sharing systemif/when their content is purchased.

Apps Running on Capture Devices

An application or “app” may be used on a device for capturing,uploading, and viewing images, and for interacting with the system. Forexample, an Android® or iOS® application that could be deployed and usedon a mobile phone, or an Android® platformed camera. There are a widevariety of platforms for which applications may be developed anddeployed including other phone operating systems and digital cameraplatforms.

The constructed app allows the operator to interact with the system in away that facilitates the capture of images in a way useful to thesystem. For example, the app allows the user to “check-in” to an event,perhaps chosen from a personalized list of events local to the user andidentified by the user's current location as provided by the device.Upon “check-in” the application will capture available sensor data fromthe device to associate with each image as it is captured by an imagecapture application, such as a camera app, on the device. The sensordata will be translated into GPS coordinates and device orientationinformation which can then be translated into an image vector toidentify where the camera was pointing. This information can be used bythe system later for purposes as discussed further herein.

The application is capable of sending images captured with theassociated captured sensor data while the user is checked into an eventto the system over any available network connectivity available to thedevice. These images and data will be added to the event data for use asconfigured for the event by the event owner.

The application also allows the user to view events from the eventdatabase and all event related content as well as targeted advertisinggenerated by the system. Users are able to browse events and view eventimages and data on the device. Targeted advertising based on eventdetails and user profile data may be rendered commingled with event dataand images.

The application also allows users to interact with the system to createand edit events and associated event data. The application will providemethods for inputting information required to describe an event,leveraging GPS data from the device to set event coordinates whenpossible. The app communicates this information to the system over anetwork to allow the event data to be saved and made available to theuser population in the manner configured for the event. The applicationwill also allow users to like, share, comment, and perform other actionsagainst event image data through user interface methods provided on thedevice.

The application allows the user to interact with the system to createand edit personal profile data used by the system to personalize theuser experience. The app provides methods for providing personalinterests and other user information for use by the system to present tothe user events that may be of interest to the user, alerts on upcomingevents local to the user, and targeted advertising.

The application also provides the user with alert capabilities, topresent notifications for new content for already subscribed events ofinterest, the impending start of local and other events of interest, asdetermined by user profile and previous user interactions. Thesenotifications may be used to open events and view event data as well asto check-in to events.

The application is also enabled to display the user's home page andevents associated therewith, in addition to other events availablethrough the interface. The content may be displayed on the deviceitself, or may be wirelessly sent to display devices, such astelevisions, using known DLNA technology or the like, including AirPlayto an AppleTV device connected to a television.

Post-Upload Processing

The system may be made aware of the device which recorded the images,because images are tagged when uploaded to the server with informationregarding the device, date and time, location, and the like. Such taginformation may be provided by the device itself in many cases, however,where the device does not provide such tags, the user may elect todesignate particular devices with the users' profile on the system. Inthis way, the system knows that the images uploaded by such a user wereproduced by the device indicated in their profile.

The system may thus also be provided with programmed information abouthow best to enhance and otherwise optimize the images produced byparticular devices to produce superior images and extract the finestimage quality possible from such devices. Such enhancement may beautomatically applied to the images as they are uploaded to the site,although, to conserve processor power, the enhancement may be performedat later times, such as when the images are selected for output to aproduct.

Such digital enhancement of images is known to those of skill in theart, however, such enhancement techniques have not been appliedautomatically and for output to photographic products as contemplated bythe present disclosure. Instead, such enhancement techniques have beenused in standalone image manipulation programs. It is expected that avariety of image enhancement technology may be applied to the imagesgathered by the system of the present disclosure.

Such enhancement may be applied automatically upon upload, providedsufficient processing power, or may be applied only upon selection of animage for product output.

The systems and methodologies disclosed herein may use any of a varietyof image enhancement technology, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat.Nos. 6,885,766, 6,954,549, 7,020,330, 7,103,228, and US PatentApplication 2004/0086176, each of which is incorporated herein.

In another embodiment, and particularly where all images are enhanced asthey are uploaded to the database, the enhanced images may be providedto the arena's staff such that images may be shown in the displays inthe stadium. Additionally, enhanced images may be provided to wired andsatellite broadcasters for delivery to consumers as a stream to theircomputer screens, or televisions. Such delivery may take the form ofpicture-in-picture displays, or may be made available on additionalalternative channels.

Using GPS, date/time information, phone orientation at the time of imagecapture, and other data which is presently (or may at some future time)be included in an image's exif or metadata, the system has the abilityto identify relevant photos for purposes of photo-stitching. Theresulting high-resolution panoramic digital images may be viewed byusers, and may be output to printed or other physical products.

Events may also be based not on fixed or dynamically varying locations,but on the target of the images comprising the event. For example, anevent may be created and shared wherein a politician delivering a speechis followed after the speech for interviews, and all images uploadedduring a particular time frame, regardless of the actual location, areattached to the event. Similarly, a quarterback at a football game couldbe its own event, which includes images from the game itself as well aspost-game interviews.

Product Creation

Many devices store images on memory cards, such as CompactFlash, SD, andthe like. While users may transfer images directly from the capturedevice, where network connection speeds are not sufficiently rapid,users may prefer to simply transfer images to a computer for upload.Similarly, in one embodiment, users may bring their memory cards to anupload station or kiosk in an arena, which provides a suitable locationfor uploads for users. Such a kiosk may be an output producer, asdiscussed below, or may be an upload station designed merely for suchuploads.

In one embodiment, single photographs, of a variety of sizes, may bepurchased, or the user may select a plurality of photographs to bepresented in a photobook, or calendar, or the like, as a keepsake of theevent. Other products include greeting cards, postcards, posters, mugs,shirts, and many other products suitable for placement of a photograph.Such purchase instructs the system to direct a service provider tooutput professionally produced photographs in the format chosen by theuser. Where photographic products are desired, any suitable serviceprovider may be used, such as HP, Kodak, Shutterfly or Fujifilm.Additionally, where professional photographers also participate with thesystem, a user may opt to include such professional images individually,in an album, in a calendar, or the like. Such professional output may bepriced accordingly higher than the user's own photographs, or those ofother users attending the game.

In one embodiment, the output products are mailed to the user, so thatthe user receives the keepsake a day or two after the event hasconcluded. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the service providermaintains a production unit at the game venue, so that at the end of thegame, the user may purchase the output product immediately.

When the user selects images for output in a product, the user may bepresented with the enhanced versions of the chosen images, such that theuser can see a preview of the product with the digitally enhanced imagesalready prepared.

While the system of the present disclosure contemplates application to awide variety of major league sports events, it is equally applicable tolocal events, school events, and organized youth sports. For example,where a little league baseball league (or team) desires to use thesystem, pages are constructed on the website and in mobile applicationswhere users who are members of the league may follow the league's games.At each game, users may upload photographs of the game, and, just aswith major league events, users may purchase professionally producedphotographs, albums, calendars, and the like. The system thusaccomplishes several objectives: it allows users to obtain customizedprofessionally produced photographic products from their own images aswell those of other league member users, professional photographers, andwhere available, cameras at the venue itself; it allows for viewing ofsuch images on mobile devices as well as desktop computers, laptops,netbooks, tablets and various other displays such as televisions andwireless picture frames; and it may replace the need for teams to hirephotographers for keepsake photographs of the teams and players.

Users need not even be capturing their own images at the event, becauseusers will have access to images taken by other users, professionalphotographers, and venue cameras, from which to design and purchase aproduct.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, images uploaded by usersare tagged by the users with a status, either private, to be held in theuser's account alone, or public, to be shared with the community. Thepublic status may offer further granularity, in that it may be public tothe event's community, or public to the website as a whole.

With each event, the database archives all the images for the event,thereby allowing users to view the images and order products immediatelyafter the event, or days, months, even years later. The system grows asmore events are added to the database, so that entire seasons of eventsare available to users. Thus, users may “mix and match” to format theirdesired products. For example, a user may select twelve images fromdifferent events to create a calendar, with an image chosen for eachmonth.

A variety of templates may be made available on the system, but usersmay also save as templates products they create, and designate them aspublic in the same way photographs may be so designated, so that thecommunity shares in the creativity of its users. Such templates may beoffered to the public, or the system can be provided with a means foruser-created templates to be available to other users for a fee. Suchfee may be shared by the owner of the system with the user who createdthe template, thereby providing a mechanism by which users who createtemplates share in the benefits provided to the entire community.Further, the ability to track which/whose photos are used in thecreation of printed photo products allows the system to also compensatecontributors for their content.

Other embodiments, uses, and advantages of the present disclosure willbe apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of thespecification and practice of the systems and methodologies disclosedherein. The specification and examples should be considered exemplaryonly. The intended scope of the invention is only limited by the claimsappended hereto.

EXAMPLES

The present disclosure will be further understood by reference to thefollowing non-limiting Examples. For purposes of these Examples, thesystem of the present disclosure has been provided with a name, to wit,PicPocket®.

Example 1

An Embodiment of the Disclosure, as Applied to a National Sporting Event

Each user may customize their copy of the installed mobile PicPocket®app on their device for listings of events taking place within aparticular geographic radius, a time frame, by user or by keyword. Inthis example, football fan users have registered, and installed thePicPocket® app on their iPhones®, Android® devices and Blackberrys®. Theapp lists events fitting the set criteria, and the user may tap theitems listed for further information. Users may also access the serverfor searching for events based on type of event, organization, dates,geographic locations, and other relevant criteria. Coming within close(or user defined) proximity of an event, or at nearing the starting timeof an event, having specified a previous interest in being alerted tosaid events, the system app may alert a user to the fact that an eventis or will be taking place. The ability to purchase tickets or getdirections to said event would be possible given the current system.

In this Example, registered PicPocket® users attend a football game,such as the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Dallas Cowboys at LincolnFinancial Field in Philadelphia. Upon arrival at the stadium, the usersfind their way to their seats and get ready for the game by launchingthe application previously installed on their mobile phones, such asiPhones®, Android® devices and Blackberrys®. The PicPocket® applaunches, and each user is presented with a screen customized withinformation relevant to their user accounts. For those users whopreviously identified either the Eagles or the Cowboys as a team tofollow, an alert appears informing them that there is a game about totake place. For those whose GPS units are activated, for example, thePicPocket® system recognizes that they are in fact at the game.

The users take photographs during the game, (which are either uploadedin real-time or saved to be uploaded at some future time), anddesignating each photograph (individually, as a group of images or intotal) as private or public. Upon upload, the system determines thelocation from which the photograph was taken based on the location tagsfound in the digital image file, if present. Date and time stampinformation, also found in tags in the file, are also collected by thesystem. The model of mobile device taking the photograph is also eithertagged in the digital photographic files, or is input by the user aspart of the user account or entered upon launching of the application onthe device. Handset orientation at the instant of photo capture may alsooptionally be captured for purposes of further delineating what the userwas interested in photographing.

The PicPocket® system is aware of the device which recorded the images,and thus may optimize the images, extracting the finest image qualitypossible from such devices.

In the case of devices having tappable touchscreen interfaces, theapplication has tappable areas to review images already taken, thoseuploaded, those designated private and those designated public. Anothertappable area links to photographs taken by other users at the game,showing thumbnails of others' public photographs. The name of the userwho uploaded the photograph may (or may not) be listed below eachthumbnail. Tapping on the thumbnail opens a page showing all publicphotographs uploaded by that user. Each photograph has a tappable areawhich the user can tap to save it for use in photographic products to bepurchased later. Each image may also be rated by the users, allowing foran additional tappable area which leads to the most highly rated images.While the basic operation of the application has been described for atouchscreen interface, other interfaces may be employed which rely onselection with buttons or the like.

An indicator may be present in one area of the screen showing how manyother users are using the system at an event. Another tappable area canbe tapped to bring up a schematic view of the stadium, with indicatorsshowing where other uploading users are located.

Users continue to take images, and upload them to the system.Additionally, professional photographers take and upload images, bothimages of the game itself as well as images of particular users, taggedwith the users' name, location, or other data tag capable of indicatingwhich user was imaged. The stadium also has cameras trained on the gameand the seats, and in cooperation with the owner of the system of thepresent disclosure, and optionally for a fee, these cameras are pointedat registered users throughout the game, capturing images and uploadingthem to the system with a tag indicating which user was imaged. Thesystem is then able to associate all images of any particular user withthat users' account, and thus provide all images a user may beinterested in when the user reviews images for purchase of products.

Personalized photographic products may be created through the mobiledevice application using a variety of templates made available to theapplication, as well as personalized templates created by the user,whether such templates have been created on the web and sent to thedevice by the server's front end, or even created on the mobile deviceitself through a feature of the application. In some embodiments of thisexample, a user may offer a personalized photographic product for saleto any others in the network, for which that user would receive apercentage of such sales. Such transactions may be handled by thesystem.

Some users may decide to order products during the game, for example, aT-shirt with a favorite image already captured by the user or anotheruser, a coffee mug with such an image, or a photobook. Other users maywait until they get home to review the events' images on the website,and prepare a more formal photobook. Either way, the purchase choicesare made, payment information is entered, and the transaction proceeds.The system directs products to be created by third party vendors fromthe images chosen by the user, however, the images are first enhancedsuch that maximum quality images are used for the production of suchproducts. Products are then prepared and shipped to the users' homewithin a few days.

An additional element of the system includes the ability to createproducts at the event itself from the image database of the system. Forexample, a photographic product company has a kiosk at the stadium, andis enabled to print T-shirts, mugs, enlargement photographs, andoptionally calendars, photobooks, and other products. The kiosk also hasa computer connected to the internet, such that registered users withmemory cards may upload to the system at any time, and such that thekiosk has access to the images in the database.

Users who order product items may select to have the items printed atthe stadium, for a fee which may be different from the fee charged foritems produced and shipped to their homes. Thus, one user orders anenlargement of a favorite image taken during the first quarter, andduring halftime he proceeds to the kiosk where he picks up theenlargement. Another user orders a T-shirt just before halftime, andpicks up the T-shirt later during the game. In either case, the imagesmay have been enhanced such that maximum quality images are used toprepare the end products.

Example 2 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a Local Sporting Event

AYSO soccer Team A and Team F are set to play on a certain date and timeon a field known in advance. Before PicPocket®, some number of parentsfrom both teams who ordinarily took photos of their sons and daughtersthroughout the game, would have to be constantly running the length ofthe field to get the best shots possible. At the request of anotherparent (stranger or friend), these same parents may have been asked toshare those same photos after the game-accomplished by either uploadingthem to an Internet service such as Flickr or emailing them directly tothe individual(s) who requested them—but whose request, more thanlikely, would have been ignored or forgotten. At half-time when theteams switched sides, this same parent may have either been advantagedor disadvantaged depending on which side of the field their child wasnow playing on. With PicPocket®, a parent wants to tell another parentfrom both Team A and Team F about the service and the app because itensures that with more people taking pictures at the same live event,the likelihood that each of the parents get better pictures of theirchildren increases substantially. Worth noting is that the capabilityexists such that if the game has to be moved from one field to another,following being set up as an event ahead of time with a specific date,time and GPS coordinates, the PicPocket® system easily moves the GPSenvelope to accommodate the new field by adjusting the game's GPSparameters in the event database, by taking into effect the location ofPicPocket® users on both Teams A and F. Parents will have the ability todecide which photos they upload and settings associated with theuploads, which can be set by default or change on an event-by-eventbasis.

Example 3 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a Concert

A concert attendee is alerted to the fact that either one of theirfavorite bands, or a band which PicPocket's® use of predictiveintelligence decides is similar, is playing at a nearby venue. Theconcert is an event in PicPocket's® event database. PicPocket® users areable to purchase tickets for the concert and map directions to the venuein addition to seeing which of their PicPocket® friends may or may notattend. At the concert, a PicPocket® user with backstage passes has acompletely different photo experience than someone at the foot of thestage, or from someone in box seats overlooking the stage, or someoneperched in the balcony. Yet all PicPocket® users attending the event andcapturing images, and uploading them to the system, are able to enjoyall the different perspectives because the event page for the concert ispopulated with pictures captured by many users throughout the venue.

Example 4 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a Municipal Event

The PicPocket® system was deployed live for three days at the AustinCity Limits outdoor music festival in October 2012. In addition todesignating a catch-all GPS zone to cover all of Zilker Park, separate,and in most cases, mutually exclusive GPS hotpsots, were establishedaround the GPS coordinates of the individual stages where bandsperformed. Every photo that was taken during the event by a PicPocket®user, and within the GPS envelope of Zilker Park, was linked to thecatch-all event/repository. Likewise, photos which were taken within thedesignated proximity of any of the individual stages were also linked tothose particular stages/events.

Example 5 An Embodiment of the System Applied to Real Estate and OtherRelocation Services

A realtor may ask a potential client (i.e., a home buyer) to describewhat they are looking for in a neighborhood—from a home's proximity toschools, parks, medical facilities, etc. to certain price-points. Arealtor may use this information to identify homes using a system suchas MLS, and then designate said homes to be included in a dashboard viewof properties that can be searched, sorted, Liked, commented on andshared like any other “event” within the PicPocket® system. The realtyapplication will identify where individual properties are located on anonline map alongside other PicPocket® events which may or may not havebeen selected based on a user's stated PicPocket® Profile interests.

Example 6

An Embodiment of the System Applied to a User-Created “Owned” PersonalEvent with Controlled Access

A father decides to use PicPocket® to aggregate images of a birthdayparty for his ten year old son. The father launches the PicPocket® appand selects the ‘Create Event’ option, designating the event type as‘birthday’ and setting the date, start time and duration. He uses hishandset to name the event “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” and walks outsideto the middle of his backyard and chooses ‘Set Location.’ Aided by a map(GoogleMaps or other), he draws a perimeter around his home in free formmode or uses a slider bar to increase the radius around the point wherehe is standing until such time that he feels that he has adequatelyencompassed the area where the event will take place. Once he commitsthe GPS coordinates and the resulting proximity envelope, he is promptedto invite attendees from his smart phone's address book and socialnetwork lists. A separate email is sent to him (and/or others he maydesignate) with a web interface that allows them to continue to refinethe Invite list from their handset, tablet or PC. The email or SMSinvite notes that “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” is a PicPocket® supportedevent and may provide a description of PicPocket® and a link to downloadthe app.

The day of the birthday party, the PicPocket® app reminds attendees ofthe event. The app may provide directions to the event. Once someone whohas the app on their phone comes within some distance of the GPScoordinates for the event, the app wakes up and may ask a user if theywould like to confirm attendance at said event. Once users are withinthe GPS envelope, images are tagged as belonging to the PicPocket®system's “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” event, and in keeping with the app'ssettings, images will either directly upload to the designated onlinedirectory belonging to said event, or users will be able to choose whichphotos to send on a case-by-case basis by selecting them from within theapp. If a user has previously configured the PicPocket® app to onlyupload when a Wi-Fi signal is present, while they may still be able todesignate which photos to upload and which to keep Private, the actualupload will be delayed until a Wi-Fi signal is available.

For individuals who show up to the event without a prior Invite, theEvent creator can provide them with a passcode that provides visibilityand access to the “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” event. The passcode willonly be valid when the user is within the GPS envelope during thedate/time of the on-going event. Similarly, a parent who does not have asmart phone, or who prefers instead to use a DSLR camera, would alsoneed this same passcode and another identifier in order to log in laterto be able to upload images which may or may not have been date and timestamped and which are missing GPS coordinate information. As Inviteescommit their images to the event in real-time or shortly thereafter,Timmy's parents have the ability to choose which photos from the richcontent pool specific to the birthday event to share with all of theindividuals invited to, or who participated in, the event.

Example 7 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a DynamicallyLocation-Based Event(s) Using GPS, and Also Including the Option ofNon-Regular (i.e., Noncircular) Regions

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual three hour event held inNYC attended by nearly four million people and viewed by over 50 millionworldwide. In recent times, the parade kicks off at 77^(th) Street andCentral Park West in Manhattan and continues south to Columbus Circlewhere it turns east onto 59^(th) Street then south down Sixth Avenue to34^(th) Street, making its final stop at Macy's Herald Square—a nearlythree miles long journey.

Between areas restricted from public viewing and the sheer enormity ofthe parade route, no one individual can expect to get the best photos ofthe event by simply maintaining their position along the parade route,regardless of their vantage point.

The picture of Kermit the Frog with Columbus Circle as a backdrop is anenviable photo, but a picture of Superman and Hello Kitty tangled up inhigh winds across from Macy's Herald Square would be just asinteresting. If you're standing outside braving November weather to takephotos of this event, you're clearly very interested in all thegoings-on of this event.

PicPocket's® coverage of the Macy's Day Parade begins with creation ofthe event in the event database, and establishes a GPS envelope toinclude an area encompassing a specified width to the left and right ofthe center of the parade route so that pictures from anywhere along theparade route could be made available in real-time to users subscribingto the event.

Example 8 An Embodiment of the System Using Targeted Advertising in anyEvent

PicPocket's® ability to target Internet advertising to the specificinterests of both its users as well as companies desiring to generateimpressions or actual sales is focused on, but not limited to, threemain areas: 1) Promotion and Sponsorship of events, 2) Affiliate ProductSales and 3) what is commonly known as Internet ads. In the case of item(1), since PicPocket® is able to intercept all the photos taken at alive event before they are sent anywhere else, and because the communityof PicPocket® is able to rate the photos, the best photos of any event(for purposes of this Example, the Superbowl) rise to the top of theevent bucket. Having collected some number of the best photos of thecheerleaders, the mascots, the tailgating parties, the crushing tackles,the half-time show and all the antics happening in the stands and on thefield (to name just a few areas of interest), brands with an interestpromoting themselves at big ticket events or events which are related totheir marketing spend or business development activities will want theirbrands prominently displayed at the top of the event in question just asthe big brands spend $4 million per thirty-second ad on networktelevision.

PicPocket's® coverage of Superbowl XLVII led PicPocket® to intersperseproduct ads relevant to: the event itself (Superbowl), the teams whowere competing (San Francisco 49'ers, Baltimore Ravens), and the generalitems of interest with regard to the sport of football, the NFL, andmajor league sports in general. Product ads were created which linked toan e-commerce storefront's API (in this case, Amazon) for such licensedNFL branded products as official team jerseys, helmets, footballs, andcollectibles/memorabilia.

Example 9

An Embodiment of the System Using Perspectives from Time and Space

PicPocket® has the capability to use a point in space and time to searchfor photos. With each photo the system has its position when taken andits orientation so it can determine if a point is in the field of view.Using this information, a 360 degree view of a point in time may becreated that allows a user to use drag controls to see all angles. Thecontrol could allow zoom and individual photos could be zoomed to matchthe perspective and distance to the object/scene. For example, acontroversial play in an NFL game presents an opportunity to explore thespecific point and time it took place, search for and display all therelevant photos and/or videos from a variety of perspectives, and dragand zoom to see all angle/details available.

Additionally, a user could view all of the images of a given perspectivetaken across time. The user employs a timeline/scroll/progress bar todrag the temporal perspective across all available values for a givenview. For example, all of the images taken from a general area in thestands of Yankees stadium from a single game may be aggregated, and thenstitched together to form an ersatz movie. Zoom of individual imagestaken along the same vector could be used to fill in any gaps created asa result of missing photos from the particular location.

As the PicPocket® system gathers more and more data from a givenlocation (e.g., Yankee stadium), information from that location may beused as a reference to geotag images missing such information, allowingPicPocket® to process content created before GPS technology was widespread.

The PicPocket® system may also use similar images taken at approximatelythe same time and along the same vector to create higher quality imagesthan any of the source images. Additionally, photo-stitching softwaremay be used to create ultra high resolution photos of famous locationsby crowdsourcing all of the individual images. The PicPocket® app mayinform the user in real time where to position and aim the camera inorder to fill in missing areas, and may offer incentives to users tofill in such missing pieces. The PicPocket® app may be equipped with afeature called ‘group photo’. At a pivotal moment in the game, or at arandom time, PicPocket® system sends smart phones at an event amessage/prompt to let users know that in five-four-three-two-one seconds. . . HOLD YOUR PHONE IN THE AIR AND POINT IT AT CENTER FIELD! Agroup-photo from every imaginable seat (angle/perspective) in the venue,all at the same time, that may be photo-stitched together for a 2D or 3Dmodel. Users can opt in or out to be alerted by PicPocket® or toparticipate in group photos.

Example 10 An Embodiment of the Disclosure Using Encryption

In most digital photos, GPS information and other metadata such as time,orientation, altitude, etc., are typically stored in a standardized,unencrypted format in the photo's exif data. An advantage of this lackof encryption is that the data captured and stored by one device can beread by another, unrelated device. The disadvantage is that the userstoring that data has no control over who can read, share, and use thispotentially private information. For example, a user might want to shareseveral pictures from her vacation without revealing to everyone whosees them exactly where and when the pictures were taken. To solve thisproblem, the system may allow users to save GPS and other relevant datawith the photo in such a way that the system will still able toaggregate these photos by time and location while keeping this privateinformation private.

One technique is to store the data as an encrypted string as part of thephoto's unencrypted exif data. Someone viewing the photo on anotherdevice might see there was encrypted data stored with the photo, butwithout the proper decryption information, they would not be able toview the private information.

Another, more secure approach to hiding private information in a photowould be to store that data inside the image itself in such a way thatno one viewing or examining the photo would know private information wasthere at all.

In addition to storing GPS and other relevant metadata with the photo ina private, secure manner, the system may use similar techniques tointentionally hide secret text or audio messages and promotions insidephotos and ask users to hunt for the secret message by examining aseries of photos with a virtual magnifying glass. Users who were able todecode the secret messages would be entitled to a reward such as free ordiscounted products or services.

Example 11 An Embodiment of the Disclosure Using Target Based Events

While many events are time and place focused, as discussed above thereare static “Landmark events” which focus on a particular placeirrespective of the time. But events may also be target specific, suchas an event based on an individual, such as a politician, or acelebrity, or a sports figure.

It will be appreciated that the systems and methodologies disclosedherein provide various advantages over the prior art. For example, thesesystems and methodologies provide unique advantages and opportunities toparties who wish to engage in targeted advertising. In particular, manyexisting methods for targeted advertising rely on demographicinformation gathered from consumers, or on the search histories orclickstreams of online users. Such information may not provide deep,meaningful insight into what a consumer wants or needs, because itfrequently lacks proper context. The systems and methodologies allowadvertisers to utilize location, date and time to associate consumerbehavior with a unique event, thus providing additional insight into howindividuals spend their time and dollars. This information may beutilized to serve up highly targeted, event specific promotions orsponsorships and related or relevant merchandise.

Various modifications are possible to the systems and methodologiesdisclosed herein. For example, while the geographic boundaries used todefine events in some of the systems and methodologies disclosed hereinhave sometimes been treated as two-dimensional objects, it will beappreciated that the teachings herein may be readily expanded tovolumetric, higher dimensional (e.g., three-dimensional), spaces, or“geospaces”.

Similarly, while the systems and methodologies disclosed herein havefrequently been described with respect to static events (that is, eventswhose geographic boundary does not change as a function of time), thesesystems and methodologies may also be applied to dynamic events, such asevents defined with respect to a moving target. Examples of such eventsare described, for example, in commonly assigned WO2016112052(Gauglitz), entitled “Use Of A Dynamic Geofence To Control Media SharingAnd Aggregation Associated With A Mobile Target”, which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

Similarly, while the systems and methodologies disclosed herein havefrequently been described illustrated with respect to media captureusing mobile phones or hand-held cameras, it will be appreciated that,in some embodiments, these systems and methodologies may utilize imagingdevices mounted on aircraft, such as drones. Examples of such systemsand methodologies are described, for example, in commonly assignedWO2016100601 (Gauglitz), entitled “Drone Based Systems And MethodologiesFor Capturing Images”, which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

While the systems and methodologies disclosed herein have frequentlybeen described with reference to their use in capturing and aggregatingmedia, it will be appreciated that these systems and methodologies maybe used more generally to capture and aggregate data. By way of example,participants to an event occurring at a particular venue may be equippedwith wearable devices that collect data. Thus, for example, basketballplayers in a basketball game being held at a basketball court may beequipped with devices or sensors which capture or record data pertainingto the players or the game such as, for example, the amount of time aplayer has been on the court, the height of jumps, the distance a playerhas traveled in a game, the player's heart rate, the number of shots aplayer has taken, and the like. This data may then be aggregated usingthe methodologies disclosed herein, and utilized for various end usepurposes.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in scope by the specificembodiments described above, which are intended as illustrations ofaspects of the present disclosure. Functionally equivalent methods andcomponents are within the scope of the present disclosure. Indeed,various modifications of the systems and methodologies disclosed herein,in addition to those shown and described herein, will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Suchmodifications are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure. All cited references are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. A system for associating media with an event, comprising: a serverequipped with a processor and non-volatile computer-readable memory andhaving an event database stored in the non-volatile computer-readablememory which contains a plurality of events, wherein each of theplurality of events has a temporal window and a geofence associated withit; and a software application provided in a second non-volatilecomputer-readable memory and distributable to a plurality of mobiletechnology platforms, each of which is equipped with a display, an inputdevice, and a further non-volatile computer-readable memory capable ofstoring a copy of said software application, wherein the copy of saidsoftware application, when installed in the further non-volatile memory,provides instructions to a further processor associated with each of theplurality of mobile technology platforms to: communicate with theserver; monitor the current location of the mobile technology platform;and capture media in response to at least one command input to themobile technology platform; wherein the server is configured to:receive, from at least one of said plurality of mobile technologyplatforms, a request to modify an instance of media captured on the atleast one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms; ascertainwhether the at least one of said plurality of mobile technologyplatforms is present at one of said plurality of events by: (a)comparing the location of the at least one of said plurality of mobiletechnology platforms with the geofence associated with the one of saidplurality of events, and (b) comparing the current time with thetemporal window associated with the one of the plurality of events; andif the at least one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms ispresent at the event, then: (a) creating a modified version of theinstance of media, and (b) providing the modified version of theinstance of media to the at least one of said plurality of mobiletechnology platforms.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server isconfigured to associate a temporal window with each created event byreceiving input from a first one of said plurality of mobile technologyplatforms that specifies the temporal window to be associated with theevent.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured toassociate a geofence with each created event by receiving input from afirst one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms thatspecifies the geofence to be associated with the event.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein each received request to create an event is generatedby said copy of said software application that is associated with the atleast one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms making therequest.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the copy of said softwareapplication associates each instance of captured media with the time andlocation at which the media was captured.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein at least one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms isa hand-held device.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one ofsaid plurality of mobile technology platforms is a mobile phone.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of mobiletechnology platforms is a camera-watch.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein said captured media is an image.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein said captured media is selected from the group consisting ofimages, video, and audio.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein each ofsaid plurality of mobile technology platforms is associated with asocial network and uses the copy of the software application to sharemedia pertaining to events with the social network.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the media pertaining to events is shared over awebsite associated with the social network.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein each of said plurality of mobile technology platforms can beassociated with an account on said social network.
 14. A system forassociating media with an event, comprising: a server equipped with aprocessor and non-volatile computer-readable memory and having an eventdatabase stored in the non-volatile computer-readable memory whichcontains a plurality of events, wherein each of the plurality of eventshas a temporal window and a geofence associated with it; and a softwareapplication provided in a second non-volatile computer-readable memoryand distributable to a plurality of mobile technology platforms, each ofwhich is equipped with a display, an input device, and a furthernon-volatile computer-readable memory capable of storing a copy of saidsoftware application, wherein the copy of said software application,when installed in the further non-volatile computer-readable memory,provides instructions to a further processor associated with each of theplurality of mobile technology platforms to: communicate with theserver; monitor the current location of the mobile technology platform;and capture media in response to at least one command input to themobile technology platform; wherein the server is further configured to:define the geofence; define the temporal window; create a mediatemplate; detect the presence, within said geofence and during saidtemporal window, of a first mobile technology platform; and generate adisplay of the media template on said first mobile technology platformin response to the detection of the presence of said first mobiletechnology platform within said geofence and during said temporalwindow.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server is furtherconfigured to: upload the media template to said first mobile technologyplatform in response to the detection of the presence of said firstmobile technology platform within said geofence and during said temporalwindow; apply the template to an instance of captured media on saidfirst mobile technology platform in response to a selection made on saidfirst mobile technology platform, thereby creating a modified version ofthe captured media; and display the modified version of the capturedmedia on said first mobile technology platform.
 16. The system of claim14, wherein defining the temporal window associated with one of theplurality of events includes receiving input from a further one of saidplurality of mobile technology platforms that specifies the temporalwindow to be associated with the one of the plurality of events.
 17. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein defining the geofence associated with one ofthe plurality of events includes receiving input from a further one ofsaid plurality of mobile technology platforms that specifies thegeofence to be associated with the one of the plurality of events.
 18. Asystem for associating media with an event, comprising: a serverequipped with a processor and non-volatile computer-readable memory andhaving an event database stored in the non-volatile computer-readablememory which contains a plurality of events, wherein each of theplurality of events has a temporal window and a geofence associated withit; and a software application provided in a second non-volatilecomputer-readable memory and distributable to a plurality of mobiletechnology platforms, each of which is equipped with a display, an inputdevice, and a further non-volatile computer-readable memory capable ofstoring a copy of said software application, wherein the copy of saidsoftware application, when installed in the further non-volatilecomputer-readable memory, provides instructions to a further processorassociated with each of the plurality of mobile technology platforms to:communicate with the server; monitor the current location of the mobiletechnology platform; and capture media in response to at least onecommand input to the mobile technology platform; wherein the server isconfigured to: create an event database containing a plurality ofevents, wherein each of the plurality of events in the event databasehas a temporal window and a geofence associated with it; determinewhether one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms is presentat one of said plurality of events by: (a) comparing the location of theone of said plurality of mobile technology platforms with the geofenceassociated with the one of the plurality of events and (b) comparing thecurrent time with the temporal window associated with the one of theplurality of events; and if the one of said plurality of mobiletechnology platforms is determined to be present at the one of saidplurality of events, then: send, to the one of said plurality of mobiletechnology platforms, a template associated with the event; receive arequest from the one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms toapply the template to at least one instance of media captured by the oneof said plurality of mobile technology platforms; and in response to therequest, apply the template to the at least one instance of mediacaptured by the one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms,thereby generating a modified version of the instance of media capturedby the one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms.
 19. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein defining the temporal window associated withone of the plurality of events includes receiving input from a furtherone of said plurality of mobile technology platforms that specifies thetemporal window to be associated with the one of the plurality ofevents.
 20. The system of claim 14, wherein defining the geofenceassociated with one of the plurality of events includes receiving inputfrom a further one of said plurality of mobile technology platforms thatspecifies the geofence to be associated with the one of the plurality ofevents.